SOCCER:MARIO BALOTELLI has admitted he does not like Manchester and sees his future back in Milan. The Manchester City striker, who signed from Inter and has a reputation for outspoken behaviour, has followed Carlos Tevez's lead by criticising the city after failing to settle since his move.
He was feted for his performance against his former club in Dublin on Sunday, which followed criticism of his showing against LA Galaxy the previous Sunday when his botched back-heeled finish drew the wrath of manager Roberto Mancini.
His latest comments, which hinted at homesickness, will not be well received by the City support.
“I am not happy in Manchester,” Balotelli said. “I do not like the city. With my team-mates and my manager everything is fine, but the city is not to my tastes. I miss the chance to be at home with my family and with my friends.”
Mischief, as ever, undercut the interview. It is tempting to wonder whether the Italian is simply revelling in a wind-up.
When he was asked about the appeal of a move to Milan or a return to Inter, with the former appearing more likely, he replied that Brescia was his home, rather than Milan.
“That is my home. Milan is a great team and one day, you cannot say what will happen. Inter again? We will see. At the moment I am attached to Manchester.
“Adriano Galliani (Milan’s chief executive) says that sooner or later I will go to Milan? I would like to, but we will see. Yes, I have chanted ‘Forza Milan’ in the past, that I was joking. One day, though, maybe.”
Tevez, who handed in a transfer request last January, is due to return to Manchester on Thursday after his exertions for Argentina at the Copa America, who were eliminated on July 16th.
His future at the club remains uncertain and his criticism of the city was rather more colourful than Balotelli’s.
“There’s nothing to do in Manchester,” Tevez said. “There’s two restaurants and everything’s small. It rains all the time, you can’t go anywhere. There comes a moment where you say, ‘Where am I going to go with my family?’ and you begin to feel bad.
“Of course, one trains, plays, does things and, when the family or friends come, one feels bad and you can’t take them to the movies because they don’t understand anything. You can buy a house in Marbella and take a vacation. I will not return to Manchester, not for vacation, not anything.”
Yaya Toure’s return to Wembley for the Community Shield against Manchester United on Sunday raises the prospect of a remarkable hat-trick.
The City midfielder scored the winning goal on each of his visits to the stadium last season, against United in the FA Cup semi-final and Stoke City in the final.
Yet Toure was preoccupied with making a different kind of statement as he assessed a season rich in promise for the club and another he firmly believes “will be the year for us”.
“I like it at Wembley but the most important thing is not that I score another goal there – it is that the team shows as a whole and that we prove to our fans and everyone else that Man City are coming,” Toure said. “We have to show United we are here and we want to win this cup for the fans. We have to make a statement from the start.”
Toure signed from Barcelona last summer and, like many football fans, he watched them outplay United at Wembley in the Champions League final last season. He suggested the most important thing for City this season was to retain their Premier League top-four status but, if Barcelona represent the benchmark, then reaching their levels must be the longer-term goal.
“I was interviewed after a game last season and asked to compare City to Barcelona,” Toure said, “and I responded by saying that I thought City could be as good as Barca one day. That was before Barca’s amazing finish to the season and their incredible performance in the Champions League final. But, when I said that City could be as good, I truly believed it and I still do.”
Guardian Service
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